Bat Flips Are Not Evil, They Are Glorious

There has been a lot of focus on the written rules of the game of baseball lately with Commissioner Rob Manfred and the MLBPA introducing several new amendments. The elimination of the 4-pitch intentional walk being the one you will likely notice the most.

Baseball also has many unwritten rules. “Don’t steal when you are up by more than a handful” is a common sense one. “Never mention a perfect game while it’s in progress” is a superstitious one. “If one of your batters gets knocked down by a pitch, retaliate” is one that reminds us that boys can and will be boys.

The one unwritten rule that either needs to become a written rule or needs to stop being made a thing by the media is bat flips. A batter seemingly cannot toss his bat with any sort of flair without it becoming highlight reel and/or bulletin board fodder. Apparently even spring training bat flips receive undue attention.

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Of course, Yasiel Puig is no stranger to bat flips. Here’s another one of his described by the now retired Vin Scully (we are all going to miss him):

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Why is the bat flip such a big deal? Seriously, the only person who looks foolish for doing a bat flip on a double instead of a homer is the batter himself. Maybe that should be the unwritten rule about bat flips – you can only do them if it is after a homer. Although according to Rougned Odor, that gets you a punch to the face the next season.

It is understood that there is a negative correlation between bat flips and disrespect. What is not understood is why that same negative correlation of disrespect is not associated with a pitcher fist pumping after striking out a batter? Actually, the answer to that question is easy. The reason pitchers can fist pump after a big out and batters cannot bat flip after a hit is because the pitcher’s fist pump never goes viral after he does it. Well, almost never.

So maybe if the media would stop exploiting all the bat flips, the perceived disrespect of the simple act would dissipate. Then maybe we can see if an MLB player will challenge and dethrone the KBO’s Jung Hoon for King of the bat flips!